How to use the selvedge (AKA selvage) circular color guide (AKA the color registration marks) when choosing matching fabrics @ ChellyWood.com #Fabric #Sewing

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Over the last two weeks, I’ve been sharing with you my sewing adventures, as I made a harvest-themed outfit for vintage Barbie dolls, using Sew-Easy patterns by Advance, pattern number 2896, view three, the shirt and skirt separates set.

As you can see in the image on the right (above), the outfit I’ve made uses a pretty harvest-themed cotton fabric. But what if I wanted to make the top out of a solid-colored fabric, like the example shows on the cover of the Sew-Easy Advance 2896 pattern envelope? How would I choose my solid fabric?

The color circles along the edges of a harvest themed JoAnn's cotton fabric which has a fall-colored print of leaves, little blue flowers, burgundy and brown pine cones, and a grey to grey-blue light colored background lies front and center, across the top of coordinating brown, blue, and burgundy colored fabrics that lie along the top edge of the selvedge to show how they coordinate with the colored circles shown on the harvest-themed fabric's selvedge edge (aka selvage edge). — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I would use the colored circles around the edge of the fabric, which are called color registration marks. (See image above for an example.)

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A pink arrow points from a cream-colored solid fabric to the peach colored numbers 13 and 9 on the selvedge edge of the harvest print fabric (upper left corner); a green arrow points from a gingerbread brown solid fabric to a closely matching gingerbread brown number eleven on the selvedge edge of the harvest print fabric (upper right); a yellow arrow curls and points from a rust colored number six on the selvedge edge of the harvest fabric to a wine colored solid fabric (lower right); a red arrow points from a periwinkle blue solid fabric to a sky blue number four on the edge of the harvest print cotton fabric (lower left). In the center (top) we see the gingerbread brown fabric was chosen for the shirt's lining; in the center (bottom) we see the image of a vintage Bubble cut Barbie modeling a white top over a green leafy cotton skirt, the View 5 outfit pictured on the cover of the vintage Sew Easy Advance 2896 Around-the-Clock wardrobe for Barbie dolls from the 1960's. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

In the image above, you can see how I’ve laid my solid fabrics alongside the color registration marks, to help me choose a fabric that I would later end up using as my lining for the top I’ve sewn from vintage Sew-Easy Advance 2896.

To make sure I closely matched the colors used in the printed patterns on my harvest-themed fabric, I first laid a piece of off-white fabric next to the color registration. It didn’t really match registration numbers 9 or 13 (see pink arrows above), so I tried to match the blues. Although my blue cotton was close to number 4, the two colors weren’t quite the same (see red arrow above).

So at first, I decided to use the burgundy-colored fabric that seemed like a pretty close match to number 6 (see yellow arrow above).

A hand-drawn version of the shirt pattern from Advance 2896 Sew-Easy Barbie doll clothes lies on top of a swatch of burgundy colored cotton fabric, but it doesn't quite fit the swatch of fabric. In several places, the pattern extends beyond the edges of the fabric swatch. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

However I didn’t quite have enough of the burgundy fabric. I still think it would have made a very nice shirt for this skirt-and-shirt ensemble, but if you don’t have enough, well… You gotta go with a Plan B.

I didn’t like the gingerbread color quite as much as I liked the burgundy. It seemed like it was too close to the browns in the skirt fabric. So I once again made new plans.

The pattern envelope for Advance 2893 Sew-easy Advance vintage fashion doll wardrobe lies on a cutting mat. A woman's index finger points at the View 3 skirt and top. To the left of the envelope, we see that the top was made of a harvest-themed print fabric; below the pattern, we see that a skirt has been cut out of the same harvest-themed fabric. In the upper right-hand corner, the waistband of the skirt has been cut out and lies upside down (so the harvest-themed fabric faces down while the underside of the fabric faces up) on the cutting mat. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Instead of making my top out of a contrasting color, I decided to create the top with the exact same harvest-themed fabric as the skirt. This wouldn’t match the suggestions on the envelope of Sew-Easy Advance 2896, but it would have to do.

I did decide to use the gingerbread brown for my lining, though, and this certainly looked nice enough.

Here we see the the lining side of the view 3 shirt or top from Advance 2896 vintage doll clothes patterns for Barbie, after the shirt has been sewn. The lining is made of the ginger brown cotton fabric. The sleeves are subtle, forming a cap style sleeve without a seam at the shoulder. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

But I’m going to be in Twin Falls today, for my DAR meeting (Daughters of the American Revolution), so maybe I’ll stop by JoAnn’s Fabrics to see if I can buy some more of the burgundy solid fabric. I’d kind of like to give the burgundy top a go, in addition to the finished harvest-themed top.

I just kind of want to see what it looks like, when I make the outfit with the fabric that would have been my first pick!

But when I leave for Jo-Ann’s, I’ll bring along the strip of selvedge, to make sure I compare the burgundy solid fabric with the number 6 color registration mark! That should help me choose a fabric that truly works well with the printed colors on the doll’s lovely skirt.

A vintage Mattel sun tan Malibu Barbie models a handmade skirt and top, which were sewn using vintage sewing pattern Sew-Easy Advance 2896, view 3. The fabric used is a harvest-themed fabric with images of pine cones, flowers, and leaves in a small print all over a grey cotton fabric. — Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

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